Did anyone else catch the blurb on the news about the nurse-in? It was on our local station last ngiht, a little blurb about it where they interviewed a woman who was "nursing-in". I was so mad! I'm sorry, i know that most don't agree with me but these women are giving breastfeeding advocates such a bad name. I love breastfeeding attention in the news, but this negativatity is NOT what's going to make breastfeeding comfortable in our society. And something that really bugged me....the initial problem was feeling like they couldn't nurse in the store, well the frickin nurse-in was on benches outside the store. If you can nurse there for anurse-in, why not just nurse there to begin with!!! wtf!!!! Sorry, I know most of you don't agree iwth me, but I had to vent.

Yeah, I kinda agree with you, well, kinda.
I didn't participate in the nurse-in, and I don't ban VS, even if I could. I don't think the reason for these nurse-in thing is strong enough. I think it's kinda stupid. Last time I checked b****** in public is not illegal. Doing all this could get people rilled up and decided to ban NIP entirely..
I mean, just because a couple of people were told not to nurse in a VS store (especially one of them specifically wanted to use the fitting room to nurse, it's a fitting room, not nursing room. I don't even know if they really buy stuff there or not. If I were the one that work at VS, I wouldn't let her do that either, I'd say, "what's wrong with nursing in public/on benches/or just walking around with a baby in a sling, you know?)
I personally do nurse in public A LOT. I never asked for a room for me to nurse my baby. I did it walking around and stuff. Sometimes people made comments. I'm used to it. If they're being rude, I just stick out my tongue or do something stupid like that, lol
IMO, nurse-in isn't a way to go. VS doesn't have to provide a room for nursing moms. Get a sling!

I'm right there with you. I don't know of ANY stores that have a private room for nursing mothers and do the same as PP I just sit on a bench or walk around. or grab a bite to eat and nurse her while we're all eating.

I was allowed a fitting room at VS, to nurse my baby one time and told to take my time at it too.

Law says that anywhere a child is allowed, nursing is allowed. US courts, kids are NOT allowed therefore nursing is NOT allowed but all other places, you cannot be told to leave. So anybody want to nurse in VS? Go ahead! Nobody can stop you.

Victoria's Secret is a store that makes money off breasts - to give any woman any hassle about using breasts for what they were intended for is pretty crappy. They also have a corporate policy that supposedly supports BFing in their stores, yet these women were told it was unsanitary and that they should go to a bathroom to feed their children. That's a load of crap.

The reason for the nurse-in was to show solidarity, to make VS aware that while their corporate policy may be supportive, their individual stores were falling short and to help break down the stigma around NIP that things like this perpetuate.

From a news article quoting one of the moms who was the catalyst behind the nurse-in

"I understand that some businesses might not want to open up a dressing room for a nursing mom because it's taking up spots for customers," she said. "If they had offered me an acceptable alternative other than the bathroom I would have taken it.

"It's about being told that it's dirty, that it needs to be in the bathroom and needs to be away in private. That's the mentality that we're trying to fight."

__________________

Vick ~ SAHM to my amazing girls: Isabel 07.07.05 and Olivia 12.11.07
"I want to be outspoken. I want to say my opinions and I hope they're taken in the right way. I don't want to stop being free. And I won't." ~ Angelina Jolie

"It's about being told that it's dirty, that it needs to be in the bathroom and needs to be away in private. That's the mentality that we're trying to fight."

Oh geez, she wasn't told it was dirty, she was told the fitting rooms were full but she could use the emplyess restroom. Have you ever been in the emplyess bathrooms in a VS? I have. They are nicer than most people's fanciest parlor, at least the one that I was in. Seirously. Away in private? That's exactly what the mother was looking for when she asked to use the fitting room. If she's so in favor of PUBLIC nursing, why was she trying to hide herself away in a fitting room. She wants to fight the mentality that nursing needs to be done in private, perhaps she should park her rear on a bench next time instead of trying to take up a fitting room that a paying customer could be using to hide herself, and her feeding baby, inside of.

"It's about being told that it's dirty, that it needs to be in the bathroom and needs to be away in private. That's the mentality that we're trying to fight."

Yes the unsanitary comment was bad and I don't agree with it. I don't know I guess I just thought of it as extreme to have the nurse-in, but I'm a very loudmouthed person when It come to NIP--If someone says something bad to me about it they get the whole "that's what they were made for, SOCIETY is what has made them dirty, shut up and leave me alone!"
I guess though the biggest problem that I had with it was both time that I read about it was a non customer coming in and asking to use occupied fitting rooms, I might not have personally did enough research on it but that was how it came across to me

"She asked staff members at Victoria's Secret at Regency Mall, where she and a friend were shopping last week, for a dressing room where she could feed her daughter. She was told none were available, and Cook offered to sit in the corner, in the back of the dressing room hallway. Staff members told her that was not acceptable."

and

"Jessie Chandler entered a Victoria’s Secret store on June 22, 2006 to browse the sales racks. A saleswoman approached her to welcome her to Victoria’s Secret, and Mrs. Chandler asked to use a changing room, as her infant needed to nurse. When asked by the sales associate if she was going to change her daughter’s diaper, Mrs. Chandler said that she was going to nurse her, to which the sales associate replied with giving directions to the bathroom outside the store. Mrs. Chandler refused to use the bathroom, and the attendant said that it was unsanitary for her to nurse in the dressing room because people change in them."

Like you, I don't let people dictate where and when I feed my daughter and wouldn't put up with any pushback - I've asked to use dressing rooms, I've used benches, I've used lounges in restrooms and I've used chairs in the middle of a store. But because we happen to be ballsy doesn't mean everyone has to be - the laws and policies should protect a woman's right to BF anywhere, and until that happens, nurse-ins are great ways to draw public attention to the issue.

__________________

Vick ~ SAHM to my amazing girls: Isabel 07.07.05 and Olivia 12.11.07
"I want to be outspoken. I want to say my opinions and I hope they're taken in the right way. I don't want to stop being free. And I won't." ~ Angelina Jolie

i'm sorry most of you feel that way, but i 100% agree with Vick. Breast are not a taboo thing and everyone needs to get that. they are boobs and they are mean't to feed your children. thats it. thats all there is too it. it is not unsanitary nor is it dirty.